Couple annoying setup issues, but all in all... I'm pleased.

It cuts very nicely. Leaves a glass like finish, is quieter cutting than my old 6” Powermatic model 50, the depth of cut lever moves effortlessly, table and fence are flat as a pancake… bonus. I was a little concerned early on with vibration. I had started it before I had the fence assembly on just to be sure the motor/cutterhead alignment was good. The on/off switch post was vibrating considerably, but after the weight of the fence assembly went on it was steady as a rock. I will say, the switch post is a little wimpy.

Assembly annoyances…

They must have laid this down on the floor right after they painted it at the factory. The bottom had all kinds of crud caked under the paint. There was no way this would have sat flat on the stand. So I stuffed a rag down the cutter chute and got out my disc sander. Sprayed it with a can of green rustoleum that was almost a perfect match. Picture of the cutterhead shows the crud buildup on the casting. After sanding and painting… much better.

I had to pad out the motor mount’s four bolts with three flat washers on each bolt to move the motor out to clear the mount’s brace in order to shift it enough to get the pulleys coplanar. Trip to the hardware store that I shouldn’t have had to make.

The job of cleaning all the cosmoline off the cutterhead was a tedious task to say the least.

Seems like they didn’t quite make the base large enough for the joiner itself as it hangs off the edges just bit… but thats nit picking.

Works as it should. An improvement over my older Powermatic model 50. Nicer cut, slightly longer table (55” to 46”), quieter, on/off switch in a convenient place… no regrets.

7 comments so far

I have the same jointer, but without the spiral head. I am also very pleased with this jointer. I did not have the set up annoyances that 2bigfeet mentioned.

I have one comment that people should note. I once ran the jointer without hooking up the dust collector. The discharge chute quickly plugged up. Of course, that is not the jointer’s fault. You shouldn’t run this without the dust collector hooked up and running.

I have owned one of these for almost two years now and agree with your review. I had run alot of maple through the jointer so I decided to turn the cutters 1/4 turn. Do not use a drill or driver for this. I broke three of the inserts while doing this. Not the smartest thing I have ever done. Be sure and put the spare cutter inserts where you can find them also which I did not. Too much stuff in the shop. I am sure no one else has this problem. To make a long story short I tried to order new cutters from Grizzly 1/25/2011 and they said they were backordered until early Feb. I canceled the order and told them to call me when they arrived. No call so I emailed yesterday and they now say none until 3/23/11. Further they charge over $40 for 10 of these. I asked what the spec was and they said they were 14×14 x 2mm. I did a search on Amazon and ordered them (Hope they fit) from them through Whiteside (Amazon) for about $28.00.Hold onto the spares they sent and be careful when tightening them down when you rotate the inserts.Mark-Columbus, NE

I have the non spiral cutterhead version but upgraded it by purchasing a spiral cutterhead from Sunhill Machinery, which happens to be just down the road from my house. It was an easy install and well worth the money. The other thing I did was replace the black belts with powertwist belts. Any vibration is now gone. This thing is dead on flat, quiet and an absolute workhorse for a relatively affordable jointer.

It looks like a good jointer, but all that work you had to do, not that great. I’m hearing more and more about Grizzly having problems. I think I will stick with Delta Machinery as I have been.. Thank you for your review.